Thoughts and commentary about the janitorial and office cleaning business.

08/17/2017

But sometimes there's too much wax

But, as in all good things (think beer), you can overdo it. Started a small industrial facility (a metal fabricator) a couple of weeks ago. The stated reason for bringing in a professional janitorial service was that the gal - not quite an employee, not quite a firm - who's been doing the cleaning for years is costing them too much in floor finish, even though they are buying the low cost stuff from a home improvement warehouse. As with many in-house, or kind of in-house, janitors, the client provides chemicals, equipment, training (or would if they'd thought of it), and had never thought much about the cost.

Didn't pay much attention to the floors as I began my initial walk-through; they were almost black, looking a bit like a dirty version of modern very dark brown fake-plank flooring. Until I looked under a mat. The floors themselves were a light chestnut. The black was a whole lot of finish, with dirt and grit waxed in. But they did have a shine.

When told about the cost of the ongoing finish purchases, and eyeballing the floor, as asked about frequency of re-finishing. She'd been laying down finish every night, five nights per week - for several years.

We stripped a test patch, to see if we could remove the gunk, without damaging the floor. And to get a rough idea of what kind of time (and stripper quantity) might be involved. We did get most of the finish off. A two foot square area took us a couple of hours. The client was happy with the appearance, but not particularly with the estimate.

We've offered janitorial services in Phoenix since 1974; hold the BBB's A-plus rating; and have long been in the forefront of the industry in environmentally sensitive cleaning for health, safety and security. Our office cleaning program can generally improve Indoor Air Quality, in the size range of most allergens, by a factor of 50%, as reflected in our ongoing IAQ sampling. We also furnish Green Seal certified recycled restroom paper products and janitorial supplies.